The cleaning of commercial premises, such as hospitals or schools, often uses diluted solution of water soluble solvents such as detergents which are supplied at a high concentration and then diluted with water at the cleaning site. In many cases the dilution with water is effected by simply pouring a quantity of the detergent into a receiving container and adding water. This process tends to be wasteful of detergent as most operators will mix at a concentration stronger than that required for the cleaning job at hand.
In some cases the concentrated detergent may present a health or other hazard in its fully concentrated form. Manually mixing this material with water allows the possibility of the operator to come into contact with the concentrated detergent with the consequent heath and safety risks.
To overcome these deficiencies devices have been manufactured and supplied to the cleaning industry which accept a supply of water under pressure and meter the detergent at a controlled rate to the water supply so that a solution of the correct concentration is presented to the receiving container. Such devices may meter the detergent flow by means of a dosing pump or by means of a venturi eductor. These devices are generally installed as a mixing station and are bulky, expensive and are not portable. These mixing stations require the operator to accept a container of detergent and to place a suction tube into the container this risking contact between the operator and the concentrated detergent.
It is the objective of this invention to provide a detergent mixer which is small, portable, cheap and disposable whilst still maintaining the performance characteristics of the much larger fixed mixing stations and which avoids any possibility of contact of the operator with the concentrated detergent.